Our kidneys are designed to filter out all kinds of impurities from the blood stream, a process that’s not particularly selective. This is done by glomeruli, which are groups of capillaries at the end of kidney tubules. But other parts of the kidneys, the proximal tubules, are charged with returning wanted nutrients back into the body. […]
Author: Medgadged
Focused Ultrasound and Microbubbles Push Drugs Across Blood-Brain Barrier
The blood-brain barrier is an important defense mechanism that prevents infections and contamination within the brain. It is also responsible for making it extremely difficult to get therapeutic drugs, including chemo agents, into the brain. Now researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed an innovative method for pushing drugs across the blood-brain barrier. […]
Early Bird – Register by Friday, March 8, for the 8th Digital Marketing for Medical Devices West Discounted Rate
This is the last week to register at the discounted Early Bird rates for the 8th Digital Marketing for Medical Devices West, taking place April 24–26 at The Westgate Hotel in San Diego. This conference is the ideal venue for medical device marketer to share best practices for optimizing their digital strategy for product promotion. From content generation to designing multichannel […]
Blood Test for Early Stage Cancer Diagnosis: Interview with Dr. Van Etten, CMO of Laboratory for Advanced Medicine
The Laboratory for Advanced Medicine (LAM), a biotechnology company headquartered in the US, offers non-invasive, early stage cancer detection tests that will use the IvyGene Platform. These IvyGene tests are based on detecting genomic DNA shed by cancer cells into the blood stream. By assessing cell-free DNA found in blood samples, the company can measure […]
ARTIS icono Biplane Angiography System Unveiled by Siemens Healthineers
Siemens Healthineers has unveiled its ARTIS icono biplane angiography system at the 2019 European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Austria. The system is particularly suited for neuroradiology procedures, such as removing stroke-causing blood clots, thanks to improved 2D and 3D imaging that can also lower the amount of radiation delivered to the patient. Moreover, quick switching between […]
Robocath R-One Robotic Angioplasty System Cleared in Europe
Robocath, based in Rouen, France, landed European regulatory approval to introduce its R-One robotic catheterization system. The R-One provides interventional cardiologists a way to precisely advance and manipulate catheter-based tools while remaining apart from patients and not exposed to dangerous X-rays. The company believes that the system can improve certain procedures by providing a reliable […]
Digital Health: The Next Big Exit for the Startup Nation?
When people refer to Israel as the “Startup Nation,” it’s usually regarding the country’s innovation in computers, networking, communications, electronics, and so on. But it might be even more appropriate to use that term when discussing life sciences, medical technology, and biotech – areas where Israeli companies and technologies have taken center stage, leading the […]
ErgoJack Smart Vest Prevents Injuries at Work
Construction, factory, and farm workers, among others, tend to put a lot of strain on their backs. It’s no surprise that back problems are common in such professions. Paying attention to one’s posture and being careful to avoid putting too much demand on the bones and muscles of the back can certainly help, but not […]
BewellConnect MyTens PRO: A Medgadget Review
BewellConnect’s MyTens PRO is a mobile and wireless TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) device that has been medically approved and cleared by the FDA. TENS is a widely known technique that provides pain relief or muscle stimulation using mild electrical currents. The typical TENS unit comes with a handheld central control unit, roughly the size […]
Signal Catheter Prevents Injury from Premature Balloon Inflation
Safe Medical Design, a company based in San Francisco, CA, won FDA clearance for its Signal Catheter device. The indwelling foley urinary catheter is designed to help prevent discomfort and injury that can occur if it’s incorrectly placed, an all-too-common occurrence. Indwelling urinary catheters typically have a balloon at the tip that is inflated once […]
Neural Probes That Mimic Real Neurons May Revolutionize Brain-Computer Interfaces
Neural probes are some of the best tools for studying how the brain functions, and they also have great potential for therapeutic applications. Brain-computer interfaces can allow paralyzed people to regain function and even locked-in patients may soon be able to communicate with the rest of the world. Though there’s a great deal of progress […]
Google and Verily Roll Out Automated Eye Screenings in India
Verily, the life sciences research arm of Alphabet, and Google, the original part of the now giant company, are launching in India a screening program to identify people with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME). The program relies on an automated machine learning algorithm, developed over the past few years by Verily and that […]
SafeOp Automated Neuromonitor Cleared to Find Nerves, Assess Their Health
Alphatec, out of Carsbad, California, won FDA clearance for the SafeOp automated neuromonitoring system for use in real-time intraoperative nerve location and assessment. The system relies on somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) and and electromyography (EMG) as the two complementary modalities, one for evaluating the functionality of nerves and the other their location and conductivity. Physicians can use […]
Microfluidic Device Pulls Exosomes from Blood to Test for Cancer
Exosomes are tiny vesicles that seemingly all the cells in our bodies produce. Initially, exosomes were thought to be a way for cells to expunge built-up trash, but over the past decade or so scientists have discovered that they seem to play an important role in regulating a variety of biochemical processes. One thing that […]
AI in Healthcare: Interview with Chris Gough, GM Health and Life Sciences, Intel Corporation
Intel has developed a suite of AI technologies and has been collaborating with numerous medtech providers to create new healthcare solutions based on data-driven strategies. AI has come on in leaps and bounds, and is beginning to make an impact in various healthcare fields. Intel aims to be at the forefront of this AI revolution. […]
Medtronic’s RF Ablation Platform FDA Cleared to Control Pain
Medtronic won FDA clearance for its Accurian RF system for ablation of nerve tissues. The system delivers radiofrequency signals to heat up targeted nerves, in the process soothing the pain associated with those nerves. Following ablation, the tissue is no longer capable of generating the pain signals, so if the targeting is done correctly the […]
Mauna Kea’s Cellvizio AQ-Flex 19 Miniprobe FDA Cleared for Analyzing Lung Nodules
Mauna Kea Technologies, based in Paris, France, won clearance from the FDA for its Cellvizio needle-based AQ-Flex 19 confocal miniprobe for use in sampling and imaging of peripheral lung nodules. The product allows physicians to image lung nodules directly through existing bronchoscopes and accompanying accessories. Additionally, in some markets, it can be used to analyze other […]
TREMFYA One-Press Patient Controlled Injector Approved for Plaque Psoriasis
The Janssen Pharma, a part of Johnson & Johnson, won FDA approval for its TREMFYA One-Press single-dose injector. The device is used to deliver TREMFYA (guselkumab) as a treatment for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. The TREMFYA One-Press allows patients to decide how fast and with how much pressure to deliver the medication. This lets […]
Microfluidic Device Separates Circulating Tumor Cells by Size to Help Spot Cancer
Tumors tend to shed cells that travel down the bloodstream, spreading the disease wherever they end up landing. Though these circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the reason that cancers metastasize to distant places in the body, they’re also a great biomarker for spotting the existence of tumors. The extreme rarity of CTCs, though, makes detecting these […]
Cobot, a New Robot, Approved for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Coil Positioning
Axium Robotics, a company based in Strasbourg, France, has received European and U.S. regulatory approvals for its TMS-Cobot TS MV, a robotic arm specifically developed to position the treatment coil of the MagVenture TMS system. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is used to treat major depressive disorder in patients that have failed to respond to drugs. Properly positioning the coil so […]